The Soviet Union was a one-party dictatorship and so in the 1930s it purged the military up until after World War II, but my question is how did it ensure that its military remained loyal?
Especially during World War II right after the purge where Soviet Officers would have seen their comrades executed or imprisoned. While things got better after World II, wouldn't any ill will continued onward? How come no disgruntled Soviet officers launched a coup or maybe an ambitious officer seeking to become the next dictator.
Now I know that the "asiatic russian hordes" trope is a lie based on German propaganda but I have nothing to replace it with.
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I assume that the successful conflicts with Japan/Poland (1939) and the disastrous Winter War (1940) had an impact on infantry doctrine when the war started in 1941.
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I assume that the quality of the troops was high antebellum and that the enormous defeats of the Soviet military early on had more to do with grand strategy failures.
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I assume that the quality of the soldiers fell to its lowest point in 1942 when the Soviet Union was at its lowest point.
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I assume that there is a quality difference between the normal infantry divisions and the elite guard divisions. That the Red Army is largely conscripted army with a volunteer professional core.
Are my assumptions correct? And how did the quality of the troops change over the course of the war?
https://preview.redd.it/g6yxcvz3yis31.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2acc67eea1001284300663fabcae981f79e03e9
As the Soviet's began pushing back the Germans in World War II they eventually were able to take control of countries in Eastern Europe. These countries would eventually all become puppet states or part of the USSR. Why didn't Greece fall under Soviet control and how did it resist Socialism? Surely the 'birthplace of Democracy' would have been an excellent prize and propaganda tool for the Soviets.
Imagine the large scale industrial output the Soviets and the tactical and strategic knowledge of it's leaders during WWII that led to the defeat of Nazi Germany. These would now be applied to the Imperial Russian Military.
There were British and American bombing campaigns on German cities during World War II. Did the Soviets ever conduct any operations like this? If not, what were USSR bombers mostly used for?
